Question:
Does anyone have excess stomach skin after losing weight?

I already have alot of sagging stomach skin from losing and gaining weight through out my life. Has anyone else had this problem and can it be fixed during surgery or after surgery? Will insurance pay for fixing it?    — Pat D. (posted on January 13, 2002)

January 13, 2002
There are a lot of people who have had to have excess skin removed after WLS. In some cases insurance companies will pay for it, if it has been causing health problems. (Rashes, infections, back problems, etc.) I would suggest going to the Q&A Database and using the keywords "tummy tuck" to get more info. I am not to that point yet, but I'm pretty sure I will need a tummy tuck in the future. Best of luck to you!!
   — Laurie L.

January 13, 2002
I personally have a LOT of sagging stomach skin. Yuck. My running joke with my husband and family is that I need a wheelbarrow for the extra skin, or that I'm a one-woman stem-cell research project. I also had some sag pre-op, from 2 pregnancies, and lots of weight loss and gain over the years, but nothin' like this! I've lost about 120 lbs. at this point, most of it in my abdomen. For me, I've been told by one doctor (in my notoriously stingy HMO) that I can very likely qualify for skin-removal surgery once my weight is down and stabilized (I probably have about 75 lbs. to go). I am likely going to get a TT myself, perhaps just paying the surgeon who does the skin removal more to do this surgery in conjunction with it. (Or, I just might go ahead and buy a wheelbarrow!) No matter what, I figure stomach skin looks better loose and hanging (you can mask some of this by the way you dress) than protruding and filled with fat. Good luck!
   — Mary Ellen W.